Man Arrested in Thousand Oaks’ Biggest Marijuana Seizure Gets Away

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies made the largest marijuana bust in Thousand Oaks history during the weekend, but the effort was marred when one of five suspects escaped Monday from what was supposed to be a secured interview room.

The drug bust--which took place Sunday night after a three-month undercover investigation by sheriff’s deputies and officers from the Santa Paula Police Department--yielded 261 pounds of marijuana, Sgt. Gary Pentis said.

The seizure was set up earlier this year when undercover deputies posing as dealers bought a five-pound marijuana sample from the suspects arrested Sunday, said Pentis, who heads the narcotics unit in the eastern part of Ventura County.

Undercover officers then arranged for delivery of the large shipment to a Westlake Village parking lot, Pentis said, where the five arrests were made at 8:30 p.m.

The men were arrested on suspicion of possession and sale of marijuana, Pentis said, and each was taken to an interview area at the East Valley Sheriff’s Station for questioning.

But before officers were able to transfer the prisoners to the jail portion of the sheriff’s facility, one of the five, Andrez Martinez, 28, of San Diego managed to escape about 1:30 a.m. Monday.

Martinez was last seen handcuffed to a security ring on a wall in what was supposed to be a secured interview area, Lt. Bill Montijo said.

“Normally it should have been locked,” Montijo said, “but apparently this one was not.”

Montijo guessed that Martinez probably picked the lock on the handcuffs. “He probably had one hand still in the handcuffs, because we didn’t find (the handcuffs) in the interview area,” Montijo said.

Police dogs were used to patrol the area around the station as deputies searched unsuccessfully for Martinez, Sgt. Arnie Aviles said.

The other four men arrested, Carlos Salgado, 22, of Chula Vista, Everado Diaz, 24, of San Diego, Juan Tapia, 28, of Tijuana, Mexico, and an unidentified 23-year-old male from Los Angeles, were all in custody Monday at Ventura County Jail with bail set at $500,000 each, Pentis said.

Earlier last week, sheriff’s deputies and the Santa Paula Police Department concluded another undercover narcotics operation with the arrest of six men in the Los Angeles area.

The arrests, made last Thursday and Friday, netted 28 ounces of cocaine, 56 pounds of marijuana, 60 marijuana plants, about $10,000 in cash, 12 automatic pistols, two assault rifles and three 12-gauge shotguns, Pentis said.